Bad historical romance writing with cardboard characters almost all of whom are nasty pasties trying to do the heroine wrong. This kind of book exists in a very unlovely, inhumane world. The hero, heroine and their faithful companion live happily ever after. Everyone else is punished in some slapstick fashion.That the worst thing that can happen to the heroine is the threat of rape and murder while the worst thing that can happen to a villain is shame and embarrassment means the emotional landscape dizzyingly out of scale.